The Board should be ...holding management to account on the 8 items. It is not a wish list or a list put together by strangers. This is the board and managements own objectives for the company for the year, the basis of the business plan.
Amateur management will throw things on paper to look good and then make up excuses to boondogle their way through another year. For them its not a tool but a piece of paper for them to put together once a year and then file and forget. This cycle can repeat for years if no one holds them to account.
i wonder how much follow through action there was on these items by the team? Did they develop concrete plans to achieve these objectives? Were they committed to achieving them? Did they get the support required to implement actions?
Blaming it on COVID might be an acceptable excuse to a fool. There have been companies building and operating production facilities throughout this whole pandemic. Part of being a GOOD manager is keeping things ON PLAN by developing or having options.